How can technology be racist?

The Voice explores why there are some devices that do not work for black users and finds out what the experts are doing to change that

Written by Nigel Watson
28/02/2017 09:00 PM

TECHNOLOGY HAS made a massive impact on all our lives, but to paraphrase the words of George Orwell some technology is more equal than others. This was highlighted only recently when an exercise wristband made in China failed to impress scores of users, because it failed to worked for black people.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 2 fitness bracelet, which costs only $20, is a very cheap device that records fitness levels, but its design flaws meant it only worked on light-coloured or white wrists. It also didn't work for some white people with a tan and/or hairy wrists.

"These devices tend to work by reflecting a green LED light off the skin - and there have previously been reports of some devices having problems with darker skin, which absorbs more green light.

"Apple Watch had a problem working for those who had wrist tattoos - that was known as 'tattoogate'.

"In this case [Xiaomi Mi Band 2], if there is an issue, it's to do with calibrating the device and the company behind it has promised to update the device's software to make it work more smoothly."

Devices worn on the wrist are not the only technology causing problems. The face recognition systems of cameras are particularly prone to being more sensitive to white faces. This was a problem with the cameras installed in HP laptops, which could track and focus on a white face but totally ignored anyone with a black face. HP quickly acknowledged this is a potential issue in December 2009 when speaking with BBC News, admitting that it "appears to occur when insufficient foreground lighting is available".

CHALLENGE: Microsoft's Bill Gates has some issues to fix

An even more provocative racial issue has arisen with the introduction of new artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Microsoft disastrously introduced the Tay, an AI chatbot that learned things from its users. Its ‘repeat after me’ feature meant it could be easily used to say offensive remarks. As a consequence, Tay was withdrawn from the market within a day, after it was targeted by offensive Twitter users.

Peter Lee, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Research NExT, was forced to quickly offer a public apology:

"Although we had prepared for many types of abuses of the system, we had made a critical oversight for this specific attack. As a result, Tay tweeted wildly inappropriate and reprehensible words and images.

"We take full responsibility for not seeing this possibility ahead of time. We will take this lesson forward as well as those from our experiences in China, Japan and the U.S.

Right now, we are hard at work addressing the specific vulnerability that was exposed by the attack on Tay."

Whilst they are still testing a more secure chatbot called Zo, Microsoft has released a chatbot called Xiaoice in China that does tackle racism. It has a cheeky, young, female voice that you can talk with via social media.

In a test with Xiaoice, she was asked these leading questions and her answers follow them:

"Biometric technologies rely heavily on stable and normative conceptions of identity and thus structural failures are encoded in biometrics that discriminate against race, class, gender, sex and disability."

As an artist, Blas disrupts these technological inequalities by constructing masks that highlight and exaggerate our facial features and identities, rendering them invisible to biometric recognition technologies. As further examples of technological bias, his video states, "fingerprint devices often fail to scan the hands of Asian women and iris scans work poorly if the eye has cataracts."

These instances are just a few examples of technological blunders and prove that it is certainly time that companies and governments confront their institutional biases, which distort the outcome of technology projects. The consequences of them not doing so can be downright stupid, offensive and oppressive, causing them to inevitably lose a customer base worth billions in spending power.

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Posted on: 28/02/2017 09:00 PM

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